For a duration of two years starting from December 2015, a twinning project between the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) and European Union (EU) was implemented for the purpose of Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of EGAC in the framework of EU policies.

The twinning project aims to support preparation of EGAC to sign a European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA) MLA with EA and to facilitate and increase exports to the European Union and entry into the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA). The European Union is the biggest economic partner to Egypt, and it is anticipated that the end result will be an increase in intra-regional trade movement and increased support for the Egyptian economy.

EGAC has a trial evaluation by EA Experts

In the period from 12 - 15 December 2016 and in the framework of activities of the EGAC/EU twinning project, EA experts performed a trial peer evaluation of the EGAC system.

The main target of this trial peer evaluation was to increase the familiarity of EGAC staff with methodologies of EA evaluations prior to real evaluation upon application of EGAC for signatory status.

This trial peer evaluation covered also the new EGAC scopes of accreditation ISO/IEC 17043, ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17024.

EGAC has been evaluated by ILAC/IAF

In the period from 12 - 17 February 2017, EGAC was under International Evaluation of ILAC/IAF implemented by an international evaluation team assigned by both organizations.

This successful evaluation will lead EGAC, after finalizing all findings released from the team, to renewal of its signatory status for four years up to 2021.

EGAC is a signatory member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) for accreditation of testing labs, calibration labs, medical labs and inspection bodies. It is a signatory to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) for accreditation of certification bodies in quality management systems (QMS) and environmental management systems (EMS).

EGAC was also evaluated in food safety management systems (FSMS) as EGAC requested extension of its scope of accreditation to include FSMS.

EGAC has been evaluated by ARAC

In the framework of an Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) re-evaluation for EGAC with participation of ILAC/IAF observers in the period from 19-23 March 2017, EGAC successfully passed the evaluation with a recommendation of continuity of recognition of ARAC for four years more. ARAC evaluated EGAC in the scopes of Testing/Calibration/Medical Labs, Inspection and Certification in QMS, EMS and also with scope extension in FSMS.

EGAC will be under evaluation for the third time in 2017 by the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) in the period from 15 - 20 July with observers of ILAC/IAF in the same scopes of accreditation.

Participation of ILAC/IAF in the evaluation process by ARAC/AFRAC is in the framework of ARAC/AFRAC recognition procedures by ILAC/IAF.

EGAC is preparing to celebrate WAD

EGAC is preparing for celebrating World Accreditation Day (WAD) through holding an awareness workshop to introduce the updated policies of accreditation and new publications and regulations from ILAC and IAF.

The EGAC official social networking account is published through Facebook with the URL https://www.facebook.com/www.egac.gov.eg. EGAC periodically publishes all its activities and photos through this account.